Off Duty
by tinytoottoot
Summary: In which Nicholas Wilde and Judy Hopps share a moment under star-filled night.


It wasn't much of a secret; if you asked the other officers in the precinct, they would tell you just how often the odd pair had exchanged meaningful looks. It was far beyond what anyone would say was just a glance. It held something different, an unusual flicker maybe, the fleeting flash of affection and they knew that it was definitely something more. Maybe it was Clawhauser's constant swooning or the instances Chief Bogo raised a brow at the banter they exchanged regularly when leaving the bullpen. Nonetheless, it was there. They were just waiting for it to happen. Until Nick thought asking Wolford for dating advice and expecting him to keep it a secret was a good idea. The ZPD officers rooting for the relationship in secret were suddenly in uproar. The pair had definitely grown in the affections of the officers. It was undeniable that they were a very good match, perfect would be more audacious but it was the best adjective for them.

So Wolford provided the much-needed dating advice that day, pointed out things such as the scent or the micro facial reactions Judy might make on a date. He told him this so the fox can be vigilant and aware of the rabbit's tiniest of reactions because his inner sappy wolf self had told him to do so. It was more romantic when you could see every ripple of reaction from your partner; it gives you a thrill unmatchable.

A couple of days later, when cases came to a slow and criminals took a downturn, Chief Bogo was all too eager to reward his two best small to medium sized police officers a much needed day off. It was more than Nick could possibly hope for, Wolford's advice was spot on and the place he suggested made even his cynical fox mind feel sappy. Nick didn't think of first kisses or first whatevers, his desire was simple and clear; Judy is not a token bunny, she's not a thing to be had. So he was going to take her to the place Wolford suggested and tell her everything he could possibly divulge about himself. Including his long pent-up feelings.

The sun was setting and he was waiting outside her narrow apartment building, watching as the tangerine streaks drenched the sky in a warm orange. The car he rented was a slick Ferrari model much resembling his own persona, and he wondered if she'd like it. He dressed well himself, donning a deep green three-piece suit that hung around his shoulders perfectly with the short tailcoat rear cuts giving way to well tapered-off dress pants. He adjusted the coat lapels around his neck, took a deep breath and leaned his back beside the streamlined vehicle.

Soon enough, a gray and white bunny appeared out of the Pangolin Arms' revolving door. Clad in a—yes—white sundress reaching to her knees with a cinched waist and a flowy off-shoulder accent that gave Nick a little peek at the top of her usually covered arms. The material of the dress seemed so soft that it made her look like an angel descending on such a lowly creature such as himself. When she came closer, he struggled to regain his composure.

"What's this about, Slick?" She asked, when she finally came in front of him.

Nick smirked and crossed his arms, "What do you not get about dinner, Carrots?"

"The part where you show up draped beside a sexy looking ride with a sexy looking three-piece suit over your body for 'dinner.'"

"You called me sexy," he winked playfully at her, "Would it hurt to dress up just a little?"

"And rent a vintage Ferrari? I think that hurts a little. A lot. On the paycheck."

"What can I say? You're worth it."

Judy smiled then, a smile unlike all else in which her eyebrows bent together slightly and her lips curled upwards more than before, "What's this really about, Nick?"

Nick chided, "Could you try not to solve the mystery for once and hop inside my sexy-looking—thank you very much, by the way—car?"

"One word comes up my mind through all of this though," she murmured quietly, now walking around the vehicle and running her paws against the car's sleek structure.

"What's that?" was his reply, not bothering to hide the way he followed her walking with his eyes. Oh how she looked so delicate.

"Fraternization," she murmured more to herself but Nick could have sworn there was something in her eyes as she said the word. Uncertainty? Fear? Sadness? But for some reason, the word or its prospect to their future relationship did not deter him.

"Ever the job conscious bunny you are, Carrots. But I can assure you; I've given the ZPD the most sterling probationary record in its history. What with being with the best field coach in the whole field," he simply replied, staring as she stood directly in front of the hood now, hidden in the shadow of the setting sun.

"Can I at least try to guess where you'll be taking me? I have to make sure that I'm not signing my life away the moment I get inside that car."

"Trust me when I tell you, I'll be the one signing my life away the moment you get inside that car."

He knew in that moment what he would be doing the moment she decided to accommodate his request and Judy knew it too. She treasured it, him, this, the very idea behind Nick and his unusually grandeur definitions of a date. They had talked about it once or twice, while doing rounds. She had always laughed at them because she never believed she would get the treatment. Well, until now that is.

"Well then I'd be glad to have you," she spoke in a hushed voice.

"I'd want nothing more."

—

"So, a 1969 Ferrari Dino, huh? How on earth did you manage to afford it?" She asked, now sitting at the passenger seat of the two-seater berlinetta. She admired the snug fit of the leather upholstery and traced with her eyes at the black, two-column, horizontal stripes that ran from the headrest to the edge of the seat.

"Ah, you know your cars, I see. Well, I knew a guy," was his simple reply, his large auburn paws making the slender circular frame of the steering wheel look puny. Behind the steering wheel was a set of gauges and meters that told them how fast they were going and whether they needed a gas refill or not.

"Yes, the great, red fox who knew everybody. But it can't have been that easy, this only ever appeared in selected car shows in Zootopia. You don't get this at just any rental."

"It fascinates me just how much you rambled on about this car already. Spill."

"Okay, okay," she conceded, adjusting her shoulders against the leather backrest. "When you live in a house with a lot more men than usual, you find yourself interested in the things they're usually interested in too."

"Like cars?"

"Yes, like cars."

"A '69 Ferrari Dino in particular?"

Judy shrugged, "A '69 Ferrari Dino in particular, yes. 246 GT. She moves like you do." She touched the leather dashboard.

"Oh. So you speak car too?" He teased, chancing a side-glance at her.

"I told you. Male bunny siblings," she was doing the murmuring thing again, looking out the already rolled down window as the breeze made her fur move freely in the wind.

Nick struggled to keep his eyes on the road, "And how were you able to say that?"

"Hm?"

"'She moves like you do?' Sounds like someone's been stalking me," he heard her laugh from the passenger seat and felt his heart skip a beat.

"You're red, of course," she started, "the car color was a nice representation of your fur. Inside it's smooth, all upholstered in leather, like your voice and your wit. The engine is gentle and quiet and the drive is slick and silky against the asphalt. Nothing could have represented you better than this car."

"Wow," he fell silent, "I don't know if you're in love with me or with the car."

Judy only giggled and looked out the quiet roads as the landscape changed from the long stretches of roads and sparse trees of the Savanna Central to the narrow slippery roads and dewy canopies of the Rainforest District, "We may never know."

"Oh, I will, Carrots. I'll make it my goal to know," he assured her, flicking the windshield wipers on as the artificial rain of the forest dribbled down the car.

"Be my guest."

—

By the time they left the restaurant they had spent more than two hours in, the night was already starting to deepen. Nick drove them out the restaurant lot and followed a narrow, uphill road that lead to a nice, quiet portion of land overlooking the whole district.

"I didn't know what I was getting myself into today," he murmured quietly, positive that she could hear him anyway, with her head pressed on his chest as they lay together on top of the car's low, wide hood.

"A lot of trouble, maybe, if your probation hadn't ended a month ago."

Nick laughed, "Thank you, for reminding me yet again, Officer."

"I can charge you for Public Indecency," she scolded him, lifting her head to smirk up at him. He returned the smirk, undeterred.

"As the tiny gray bunny looking so snug and comfortable in my arms, I ask you which one of us is publicly indecent."

"Excuse me," she retorted, "I am not the one who seduced a vulnerable young doe into gallivanting with him off to the Rainforest District in a vintage car."

Nick's answer was resolute and she felt him absently rubbing at the gray fur on her exposed shoulder, "You are a lot of things, Carrots, but a vulnerable young doe is not one of them."

Judy chuckled but remained silent, marveling at the feel of Nick's paw pad reaching the skin under her fur.

"I picked this up at the rental, convinced my pal John to lend it to me for one night just so I could surprise you with it," he said after a while.

"It worked, Slick. I'm impressed."

"Not as much as I am! With all that car intelligence you sported earlier!"

"Why, thank you."

"So anyway," he continued, adjusting his back so that he was leaning on his elbows. Judy snuggled closer to his chest. "I didn't have it all figured out like anyone would imagine. I just came by your apartment and took this sexy hell of a car with me and dressed my bestest to make you smile as soon as you stepped out of the revolving doors of the Pangolin Arms."

Judy whispered, "I would have smiled just the same even without the car or the suit."

"I knew you would. That's why I wanted to do it more. Because you never really asked for anything from anyone when it's very clear that you deserve only the best things."

Judy blinked slightly, trying her best not to react like a schoolgirl being confessed to, "Should I stop you before you get any sappier?"

Nick laughed and booped her nose, "This is because I joke so much that you can't tell when I'm actually serious, isn't it?"

"Are you?"

"Yes."

"Do you like me?"

"Yes."

There was no hesitation, no pause and Judy fell silent. Nick smiled fondly at her, taking her in his arms again. Her breath hitched when he did so, his purple wet nose only a hair's breadth away from her twitching one. The low baritone of his voice that came next could make anyone weak at the knees.

"I think I've liked you ever since you apologized to me under that bridge. And when I hugged you, all I could think of was that I want to feel that feeling again. And now here you are, true enough, and I think it's going to be really hard to breathe."

She found her voice after a while and whispered, "Careful, I'm not a doctor."

"No, you're not. You're painfully beautiful."

Judy beamed in silence as she looked up at the star-dotted sky. He kept his eyes on her, the sweet smile on his lips remaining.

"Oh, Nick, I do this thing when I look up at the sky."

"What's that?" He indulged her, continuously rubbing her shoulders.

"I trace the stars and form something from them, like this," she raised her paw up the sky palm up, protruded a clawed finger and traced a line up of stars.

"Didn't know you had a penchant for childlike things," he teased her again, but this time she laughed blissfully.

"Oh, hush, you once pushed a stroller for a living."

Nick pinched the end of one long, black-tipped ear, she shivered but didn't stop him, "That's the thing. It was for work."

"And a tax-free life."

Nick only chuckled, lifting a paw, "I'll trace this one over here." He closed one eye and formed a shape.

"It's a wine glass."

"I've got an axe."

"Flower."

"The letter M."

"My heart.."

"A shoe!"

"In your paws."

"Nicholas Wilde," she reprimanded him playfully, watching at the corner of her eyes as his red, fuzzy auburn tail swayed slightly faster with glee.

"I can't help but fall in love with you, Judy."

Judy fell silent again, looking up at the sky to hide her embarrassment.

"And if going through probation and discrimination and various things is what I have to go through to get to you, I'll take them head on, just so I can sneak a moment, even just a fraction of a second, to have you in my arms again." The way he said it made her heart flutter and her head buzz with unusual glee.

"Has anyone ever told you you'd make a great lover with that smooth tongue of yours?" Judy murmured suggestively, brazenly slipping her paw inside his coat and pushing it off. He helped her out by sliding his arms out of the sleeves.

"You'd be the first."

Judy looked confused and blinked back at him, "Never been in a relationship before?"

"I have. But nothing like this," he shifted his arms completely free from the stuffy coat and rubbed a padded thumb against her cheek. She moved her face unconsciously into his paw and stared into gentle emerald orbs.

"Have you not fallen in love with a vixen before?"

"Not as in love as I am with a bunny now," he whispered, leaning his face closer, so that Judy felt his long draws of air and the ripple of his muscles at their proximity.

She felt like vomiting and jumping up and down at the same time, his body felt so warm and smooth, like the car they were draped over. Her voice came in a playfully sweet whisper, "Don't make me fall for meaningless words and empty promises, Nicholas Wilde."

"Then let's make it meaningful."

"Dumb fox," she spat out with a chuckle as he grinned and used his fuzzy tail to pull her closer.

"Sly bunny."

—


End file.
